A Holistic Approach to Growth with Jim Welsh of WIS&G Insurance Agency

What do car shows, collective genius, conversations and differentiation have to do with agency results? Well, on this episode of the Agent Leader podcast, I interview Jim Welsh, who's a CFO of one of our partner agencies, to discuss those three things and much more. Enjoy the show. Welcome to the Agent Leader Podcast. My name is Brent Kelly and I am your host. Thanks so much for joining me on the podcast today. Today I have a very special guest. I have a great guest on my podcast today, Jim Welsh. He'll be joining us all the way out from California, although you may be listening from California, so maybe it's not far from you at all. But we've got a great guest today and I'll get to Jim in a second. First and foremost, I always want to share the mission of this podcast. The mission is to educate, to empower, to equip you the independent insurance agency leader, to help you become your best version possible. And as you've probably probably heard me say, if you listen to this podcast regularly, we have launched, introduced a new program and process the best version possible. Fast Track. This is a 90 day integrated training program. In fact, it might be something that Jim and his team have gone through in some way. Our training programs together. Go to sitkins.com fast track to learn more about it. Sitkins.com fasttrack and if you have questions and want to set up a call with our coach to learn more about it, you certainly can do that there as well. So with that, let's dive into the interview because I do have a very special guest, Jim Welsh. As I mentioned, he is the chief financial officer for Wynton, Ireland, Strom and Green, otherwise known as WIS&G out in Turlock, California in the beautiful Bay Area out there. And Jim's joining me very early on the Pacific time. So Jim, thank you for joining me on the Agent Leader podcast. We're glad to have you.

Oh, Trent, it's a pleasure and it's been a real pleasure to become affiliated with the Sitkins Group. Really. We're just starting, you know, 90 to 100 days in and we're really excited.

Yeah, you know, part of this too, I, I, I, I do believe it. It may be a bit self serving, but you know what, Jim, it's my podcast, so why not? But listen, I say all that a bit tongue in cheek because we want to deliver value to agencies like yourself. But as we have introduced the, the fast track portion of this, which is the first 90 days, the training programs, you and your team have just gone through that so you know, I'm always curious to learn about your agency, what you've done of course, prior to sick, but just some of the things that you're dealing with, the challenges and successes and share that with the agency leadership listener out there. And I want to start off just so they get to know you and the agency better. I mentioned obviously you're out in California, but tell us more again Jim, about your role and then of course the agency holistically as far as how you're broken up and how many people and what you focus on. All those good things.

Sure, sure. Yeah. I'm the chief financial officer and I did not grow up in the industry, in the insurance industry. I've had a pretty varied career, one that I'm very thankful for. I spent a lot of time in large corporate environments. Two, two Fortune 500 companies. One was publicly traded, still is, and a private held cooperative and worked a lot in the sales area just closely with them. And you know, we talked about, you know, what we termed as go to market strategies or you know, an informed sales playbooks and so gained a lot of that. But I'm, I'm at the core, you know, I began in the, in the financial accounting area and then I, then I went and was. Ran the operations of a business for 12 years. And so I think I got a unique feel for the other side, if you will, as a client. And so I, we had a whole host of insurance products that we were leveraging there and so that, that helped to give me a perspective as I came in here. And I think at the same time one of the things I got into very early on was human resources. And I'm a senior certified professional with shrm and I think that has helped inform, you know, my relationships internally and externally. So I think I bring that as well.

Yeah, that's it.

Yeah. As far as. Well, thank you. Yeah. Winton Ireland is just a fantastic company to come into. It's family own, it's a community oriented, we are locally focused but. But we do have a regional impact. We have three offices, one in Turlock, California and then just north of Modesto and just one south in Livingston. Rooted in Central Valley, heavily in ag, heavily in. But we have a whole host of products that we've got and so we're really excited to, to be able to be a part of the Sitkins Group and take what we're. We have been doing but bring greater continuity to it, bring a better understanding of why we're doing what we're doing. And so that has been something that we've been embracing over the last 90, 100 days.

Yeah. And Jim, just how many. How many people at the agency?

A little over a hundred. We've got about 80 or so in Turlock, about 15 in, in Modesto, and a small office in Livingston.

Yeah, well, and I wanted to bring that out because, hey, obviously you're a sizable agency, but there's a lot of people. And you always joke about leadership, and leadership would be so darn easy if it just wasn't for the people, you.

Know, isn't that the truth?

It just wasn't for the people.

Right.

They always, there's something to do and there's an issue. And, you know, in fact, I just heard a podcast the other day, and it was talking about the fact that, you know, people certainly are the greatest bless. Right. Some of the things we're able to do and impact their lives. Incredible. But they also can be certainly one of our top frustrations that we deal with in organizations as well. So now certainly we'll probably talk about both of those in different capacities on the interview today. And maybe I'll start. I always like to be a positive guy, but I want to start off with the agency listeners. I mean, every agency has challenges. We know that. I know we've had discussions, you know, as you guys were looking into our approach and some of the structure and processes and is this the right fit for us? And we talked about some of the challenges that you all had. But, you know, maybe there's more than one. Jim, but if you could say, hey, this is probably the biggest challenge that we have faced or are facing, what would you say that is today and, and, and how are you going about to address it?

That's a great question. You know, I, I probably step back and talk about how we came to where we are now with our relationship with Sitkins. You know, that was a, a process that we, it just didn't happen overnight. We, we. We. We experienced some other solutions that just weren't fitting with us culturally in what we were trying to do. And so it was really important for us to, to sync up with an organization that was, that was really in line with what we truly thought was important in the market. You know, we are a unique insurance company offering unique solutions, and we know the businesses and the people that we deal with externally as well. So one of the things we gravitated toward immediately was your focus on points of differentiation. That was something that, you know, that synced up right away with us. You know, we Offer unique product to unique people. And what truly are our points of differentiation? So we've been going through that process over the last number of weeks, and it. It's been revelatory. It really has, because we've understood what we're doing and why we're doing it.

Yeah, yeah, it's, you know, we've had some conversations, certainly, but the first thing you said it's interesting about, you know, well, you know, we're unique and we're different. I always joke, and I'm sure you may have heard this before, Jim, but, you know, there's. Well, the studies out there, they vary. I mean, some people say there's 36,000 independent insurance agencies. Some say there are 40,000 insurance agencies. Of course, depends who you talk to. Here's the bottom line. There's a lot of them. And, you know, I say, like, the best part about being independent is you're independent, man. What do we. What do we want to do? How do we want to do it? Right. I said, the biggest challenge of being independent is you're independent. What should we do? How should we do it?

Right.

So there's a lot of strategy around that. And I think, you know, one of the things you guys have gravitated to pretty quickly was, you know, the pods. And one thing that, you know, I always talk with agency leaders and the producers about is that you may think, you know, your pods, and sometimes that's not even true. It's like, well, what are they? And they're a bit generic, and they. They think they're a differentiator, but they're not. They haven't gone deep. And so to me, there's a difference between knowing your pods and owning your points of differentiation. Right. How do we communicate that? What are the questions that we need to ask? Where have we not explored this? And I think a big part of that is. And you guys are all doing a great job of this, is just taking some time to think about it.

Yes.

And have conversations about it and challenge each other about it. So, again, to go a little deeper in the pods, and I know you're very early in this process, but what kind of things have you discovered maybe from some of those conversations initially about point of differentiation and how do we do this better? I mean, what are some conversations maybe you've had in the agency, Jim?

Yeah, the conversations themselves have been illuminating. You know, it's because we'll have producers that are, you know, have some clear and distinct and effective points of differentiation, but other producers may not know about Them, they may not have been exposed. And so, you know, this collaboration that we've had among the producers to not only get a master list, but to discuss them and understand, okay, maybe in this particular industry this POD will be more effective, but in this one it won't. And so that effort in and of itself has been huge for us to go through it.

Yeah, this is for the audience, obviously, as a whole, listening to this. But as you said that, it reminded me of something I thought about. I don't think I've said this before, but often when you look at agencies again, they come in different shapes and sizes. And a lot of times, you know, smaller revenue agencies, however, you want to find that, you know, say, one of the biggest challenges, we don't have this enough. Enough markets or enough people for these things. And there, there's some truth to that. But I think what you hit on, Jim, is really important that some of the larger agencies, multiple people, one of their greatest advantages is one they don't take advantage of, which is collaboration. Like, like, you know, and even if you're a newer producer, well, I don't really have many pods yet. I'm not sure what they are. Borrow them from people in the agency and understand how they're doing things. Learn from that, adapt from that. Of course, they need to be your own, but there is such power, and we see this all the time and, you know, people take it for granted, the collective genius of masterminding or meetings. And so often a lot of meetings come into are based around, you know, complain fest or this isn't good, or this isn't good. But let's, let's get together and really share ideas and how we can all get to better, get better when we leave this meeting. So I love the direction you're going there. I know that's, you know, some next steps you're all taking as you move forward as well. Maybe this is part of a success, maybe it's not, Jim. But, you know, one of the things, and this certainly can be pre working with us, but what's one thing you guys do really, really well? Maybe this is a weird way to ask the question, and I didn't phrase this to you before, but you know, what would be the WIS and G superpower, right? And you go, hey, this is something we're really good at. We've had success in this area and gosh darn it, we're going to do more of it and share what that is, and maybe we can learn something from it. I'm sure we will.

Yeah. I think it probably goes back to our community orientation. We, you know, that our, our top clients are, you know, top 20, if you will, are, you know, historically significant to us. You know, we've went back a lot of years and so those relationships that we've built are highly valued. And I think one of the things is we've came into Sitkins. It's, you know, it's okay. We don't want to rest on our laurels, if you will, that, you know, okay, we have this relationship, we don't want to ever take it for granted. And so while we, I think, have done a highly effective job at keeping those relationships sound, it's what can we do to take it to the next level? How can we become a trusted advisor that would allow us to seek out more referrals and do that with confidence. And so I think it is leveraging what we're doing well and then, you know, taking it to that, you know, logical next level.

Yeah, that's fantastic. And again, and you know, those deep, long lasting relationships are so impactful. I say this all the time is it's still a relationship business. You know, we do our trainings and everyone says yes, you know, my tongue in cheek reply, but it's truthful, is what are we doing to deepen that relationship? Right. And, and, you know, I think you hit on it really well, Jim, is that we can if we're not careful. I've done this. You rest on your laurels because you just assum. Because we've had this relationship so long that we'll always have this relationship and there's a reason why you've had the relationship for so long. So let's not forget about how we got there and how do we make improvements. So. And again, maybe I don't know if you have a specific answer to this or not, and I don't want to put you on the spot, but have there been some things as an agency you have done with some of these legacy type of relationships that someone goes, oh, that's a great idea or something we can consider doing.

That is a. Well, I tell you what, one of the, you know, and I come back to the community orientation that we have and working locally, I think reaching out for them, reaching out to them to help have them participate in novel and interesting activities. A good case in point is we have a really successful, highly effective event that we just finished. It's called Cars and Coffee. And we invite the community out and we have a wonderful car show that is put out there. And so we, you know, interestingly enough we have a number of clients that have classic cars and so we asked them out and it's just an event that they look forward to. We put a, you know, a lot of effort into. And, and it's again, it's using the word. It's unique and it's, it's fun and it brings people together.

That's a great idea. I love the fact that obviously there's a bit of a niche in what you do, but the community is involved. And you know, I love about those two is that whenever you get, I don't know if you invite, you know, some of your carriers, you know, friends as well or whatever, but you know, there's that, that community and guess what? It's like, you know, the central part of the community is your agency and now they're all interacting and.

Right.

And, and again it's, it's one of those things, the deeper you go in that the harder it is for someone to ever break that relationship. And, and, and you've earned the right. Right. By doing those kind of things. And that sounds fun. You have to remind me of that next year maybe I'll come out and check it out.

Oh, fantastic. And I would add that you had mentioned carriers. We do have a number of carriers that attend as well. So. And that just kind of brings a holistic approach, you know, from, from all kind of. And so very helpful to us in the, in the, in the community. But it's just, we just enjoy it.

Yeah, it's fun for me too. And just working with agencies all over the country that you know, do some different community sponsored events or whatever they are, how they're very unique to their own culture and things they enjoy and part of the country, I mean we, we've got bags tournaments on the east coast and classic cars and you know, music events with cowboy hats in Texas and you name it. Right. But part of it is just, just deepening those relationships. That's great. Well, I mentioned as we hopped on here, I may ask you a self serving question. So here I go. And you've mentioned some things already, Jim, and I appreciate that. But you know, obviously you're, you're, you're relatively new with us, right? I mean at this point you've had most of your people go through our programs and we have our sales program producer fit, our sales leadership program coach, the coach which you hopped on that call with us, Jim, and then the account manager fit. Just from your experience so far, what's been Your agency's greatest takeaway. What have you been able to take away from some of the things that, that you've done through our program so far?

Yeah, the first thing that comes to mind, and I think it's a major one, is the holistic approach you have. Bringing the account managers into this training, bringing the entire agency, if you will, into this training has been huge for us. You know, we were looking for something initially that would really have impact on our producer group, but to take it to the next level and, and, and have the account managers, the service group involved, that's been huge for us. And you know, we had the producers go through their eight sessions. We had made the operational decision to, to stagger that a little bit and have the account managers go out a few weeks later. We're just now getting the fruit of that training. And so the account managers now are syncing up with what the producers are doing. So, you know, the high performance team meetings have began to be a major focus of ours, and we're already reaping the benefits of those. And so bringing those two teams together along with the leadership above them has been huge.

That's great. And, you know, I, I wish I could sit here and I've mentioned this in the podcast before, that, you know, and this is, you know, part of our fast track model. We've gave it a, a real name so people can understand what it is and gravitate around it. But I wish we could say, oh, we, we thought this out for years and years. You know, obviously between Covid and the fact that we've just had conversations with people going, gosh, like, you run this program and you, you run this program and they're all really good, but man, like, if you could put these together. And so we really got intentional about that and, and, and, and make sure they certainly overlap. And we know there's a, obviously different conversations we're having with producers than we're having with the service professionals that we're having with the leaders. But whether it's, and I'm sure you've experienced this, Jim, and the agencies you've been part of, and you have a producer that goes out and gets training, it's not inherently a bad thing. But when they come back, what happens? You know, how do we relay that to leadership and service? And so, you know, part of this is to take pockets of agencies and say, listen, there's a holistic approach to this. And we talk about a culture of accountability. It's really hard to have a culture of accountability when there's no common language and culture.

Absolutely.

I mean, you're nodding your head, so I'll let you maybe address that because culture is not an easy thing. It's hard. Hard enough when you're separated. So what would you comment on that, Jim?

Yeah, I mean, the common language is, is significant. You know, we, we. We are doing things together, but somewhat differently right now. We, we're very fortunate, Brent, that we have a, A strong culture. We have our, our turnover is, is in a place exactly where we would like it to be. And so we've kind of set ourselves up now to take it to the next, you know, logical level. And so common language being able to speak the. In one. One thing I would add is, is it's exciting for us to think about, you know, new producers, new employees at large coming on now because they're going to be able to step into that common language and that common method of going about business. And so we're looking forward to that. To be, you know, as a byproduct of, of this.

Yeah. And another little plug here. But it is important, you know, how we have stuff set up too, is exactly for that is whether, you know, producers. And Jim, I'm sure you've.

We've.

We've talked about this. Is they go through it. There's. Even though we have it broken up over. Over several weeks, it's still a lot of information. So we have a lot of our producers, you know, part of our membership is just go back and do it again. Right. And we have a lot of agencies, their producers go through it two, three times even in the first couple of years. It's not because it's, you know, they're. There's. They don't. They just can't grasp it. It's just what's next. I want to understand this deeper. And then of course, to your point to Jim is we've got new people coming on board now. We can integrate them into a process and a plan that everyone's heard and been part of, which is really great to hear. And what's been an interesting byproduct is that, you know, we talk about people, people, people all the time. Recruiting, developing, retaining. You know, part of this, and this doesn't have to be a Sitkins thing, it's just a professional growth thing. But if you've got a professional growth plan and a system for your agency, it does help you recruit, it does help you obviously develop and hopefully retain because people are part of something that's growing. So I think that's it's an important point to make. All right, Jim, I have one final question. It's all about you. Okay, this is. This is all for Jim. Are you ready for this one?

Bring it on.

All right, this is my favorite question to ask because I love. There's no. Any of these. There's no wrong answers. It's just your answer. All right, so I don't. I won't give you an age, but if the younger version of Jim Welsh, maybe. Maybe you're just starting off in your career, okay, so you're just starting off on this endeavor of business, and you ran into today's version of Jim, and that younger person looked at the older version, the current version of you, and said, jim, I'm looking for one piece of advice right now. What would you. What would you tell the younger version of you?

I would tell my younger version to take risk, to. To explore every opportunity that's out there and. And just go for it. Because there are just so many opportunities out there. And, you know, we're in a fabulous industry here helping a lot of people, but there are a lot of other industries doing the same thing in different ways, you know, in different approaches. And so don't hold yourself back. You know, seek out the education that you need that to establish yourself, but get in there, roll up your sleeves, get the experience, and just in. And the other thing I would say, too, is just, it's absolutely critical to seek out something that you enjoy. And don't. Don't get stuck. Don't get static. And, you know, I think you'll look back, you know, and go, yeah, I. I did everything I could to get where I am, and I'm. I'm content.

Wow, that's fantastic. Thanks for sharing that. I love it. You know, in fact, I heard a phrase years ago, I don't know who this came from. I said, you know, no risk, no nothing is what somebody said. And obviously, we live in the world of risk and insurance, and so you want to hopefully take calculated risk. But you're right. There's so many things that. And I know. I've had this, too. So as you said that, I kept thinking of, like, in what areas have I got? Oh, well, you know, maybe someday or I, you know, we'll get there. I don't wanna. And then you do it and you go, why didn't I do that years ago? Yeah, right. Why didn't I do that years ago? And, you know, the. This is a bit cryptic, and you probably heard this in one of our trainings at some point. But when I had someone that expressed to me the definition of hell on earth, what that was, I, I shuddered. And I don't know if you remember this, but he said, the definition of hell on earth is when you get the last day of your life on this earth and you come face to face with the person that you could have become. And I'll change this. The person you could have become if you only would have taken that risk.

Right.

To put on what you said, Jim. So, Jim, thank you so much. This has been awesome. I've got great value. Any final words you want to share with the audience before we depart? I know you got a busy schedule, busy day ahead for you.

No, Brad, I appreciate the opportunity. We're, we're excited about the future. These are uncertain times in a lot of ways, but we can control what we can control and let's just have fun doing that.

Yeah, that's for sure. For sure. Well, thank you Jim, as always. I appreciate it as a listener. Thank you for being a listener to the Agent Leader podcast. Again, as a reminder, if you want to learn more about our programs and what we do, some of the cool things that Jim was talking about, you go to sitkins.com and if you want to learn about Fast crack Fast track, I'll get the words out. Go to sitkins.com so with that, thank you so much. Wish you all the best. The Agent Leader Podcast is brought to you by the fine folks the Rough Notes Company. They're publishers of the insurance industry's leading magazine and technical insurance content. Roughness Magazine profile successful agencies plus keen insights from respected experts on a host of must know topics. Rough Notes Advantage plus provides the tools to help your agency grow, providing authoritative information on complex coverage issues. Visit them and learn more at roughnotes. Com.